SAN JOSE – Kyleigh Mace expected to spend her first Mitty vs. St. Francis game cheering from the home dugout. 

But the freshman was ready to go when an injury to senior ace Ava Markert on Tuesday thrust Mace into the starting role, and one could hardly call her unproven.

After all, she had already pitched a six-inning perfect game against West Catholic Athletic League opponent in Sacred Heart Cathedral on April 5. 

Mace wasn’t quite perfect on Wednesday, but she still threw a gem of a complete game to give the Monarchs a 3-2 victory, snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Mountain View school with their first win since 2019.

The right hander held the prolific St. Francis offense to six hits in a nail-biter between the WCAL’s best teams.

“This is huge for us,” Mace said. “It’s a confidence-booster.”

Confidence that could have waned by the bottom of the sixth when St. Francis seemed to be in complete control. 

The last time the teams met, St. Francis defeated Mitty 6-5 in the Central Coast Section Open Division title game on its way to a NorCal title.

Two stars from that game were once again having an impact Wednesday.

Junior Kate Munnerlyn was working on a shutout and senior slugger Chloe Cummings had driven in runs during the second and sixth innings. A ninth consecutive loss to the Lancers seemed imminent.

“They could’ve easily quit when it was the sixth inning and we were down 2-0, and we hadn’t done much offensively,” Mitty coach Megan Yocke said. “But they stepped up and were willing to take some of their at-bats and do things that are different.”

It started with a Lindsey Miller bunt for a single, and then freshman McKenna Woliczko poked a ball into the outfield that scored Miller when the St. Francis defender misplayed the ball. 

“I think the freshmen being on our team and their competitive nature, has been a tremendous asset to our team,” Yocke said.

A few moments later, Megan Sutton drove the ball into center field, tying the game as Woliczko ran home. Corri Hicks then put Mitty on top when she lined a pitch into left and drove Sutton in.

“It’s great to get over that hump,” the Oklahoma commit said. “It sets the tone for the rest of the year.”

The top of the St. Francis lineup stranded a runner in the seventh and snapped its own eight-game winning streak. It was also the first time St. Francis had lost a regular season WCAL game since St. Ignatius beat them in 2018. 

Mitty’s Sutton went 2 for 3, and junior Keira Brady also had a hit. Carly Cummings and Alexis O’Gorman collected two hits each for St. Francis, which allowed a run for the first time in almost two weeks. 

Though the teams are guaranteed a rematch in Mountain View on May 5, and possibly again in the CCS and NorCal playoffs, Lancers coach Mike Oakland did not want to look that far ahead.

“You can’t play perfect all the time … hopefully we get better next time,” Oakland said, “We’re just trying to win our league, and now they have the upper hand.”

Mitty is 13-2 and 3-0 in WCAL play, and St. Francis fell to 16-2 and 1-1 in the league. 

Yocke also hesitated to place too much importance on winning the first of what will likely be a series of meetings between the two WCAL powers. 

“We know we’ll see them one more time, and we hope we’ll see them two more times,” Yocke said. “We know we’re gonna have to beat them again.”

However, the coach did mention one positive takeaway the team will glean from the victory. 

“It showed us that if we play our game, we can beat anybody,” Yocke said. “We can compete with anybody.”